Corner construction



CORNER CONSTRUCTION Filed Jul 17, 19:51

J J E. G 5b g Owew Tug y l7 [is Patented Sept. 5,1933

PATENT OFFICE CORNER CGNSTRUCTION Owen E.- Grigsby, Park Ridge, and George G.

Ellithorpe, Chicago, Ill., assignors to Porcelain Tile Corporation, Chicago, 111., a corporation of 7 Delaware Application July 17, 1931. Serial No. 551,341

1 claim.

The invention relates to awall construction and more particularly to a construction of the type shown in the patent to George D. I-laines,

No. 1,594,514: issued August 3, 1926, wherein a plurality of tiles are secured to large foundation sheets which are fastened to a supporting structure.

An object of the invention is to provide, in such a construction, means for producing a unified assembly of the foundation sheets whereby to restrain the sheets from relative movement or a separation due to such natural causes as settling of the building or shrinkage of the sheets.

Another object of the invention is to provide rigid means on the rear face of the foundation sheets for bridging or spanning the joints between adjacent sheets and effective substantially to prevent the formation of cracks between tiles carried by the front faces of said sheets.

The drawing is a horizontal section through a wall structure embodying the features of our invention.

While the invention is susceptible of various modifications and alternative constructions, we have shown in the drawing and will herein describe in detail the preferred embodiment,-but it is to be understood that we do not thereby intend to limit the invention to the specific form disclosed, but intend to cover all modifications and alternative constructions falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claim.

With reference to the drawing, the present invention is illustrated in connection with a suit- '35 able supporting structure for a well, such as a supporting framework comprising the vertical studding members 10 to which horizontal furring strips 11 are secured. The wall construction of the type disclosed in the aforementioned I-Iaines patent embodies generally a number of relatively large foundation sheets 12 formed of wood fibre, gypsum or the like. The foundation sheets are secured to the supporting structure in any suitable manner, as bythe nails 13.

In the front face of each sheet a plurality of sets of grooves 14 are formed in any desired geometrical pattern. The tiles 16, which are secured to the sheets, comprise sheet metal plates having rearwardly extending peripheral flanges 5O! 15 arranged to fit in certain of the grooves 14.

The exposed surfaces of the tiles are covered with a layer of vitreous enamel or the like.

The tiles are, in this instance, secured to the foundation sheets by a layer of cement 17 interposed between the backs of the tiles and the foundation sheet, and the spaces between the tiles, as well as the underlying portions of the grooves 14, are filled with cement 18.

Frequently, in tile constructions, cracks appear between adjacent tiles due to the natural settling of the building. While this cracking eifect is materially minimized in the Haines type of construction due to the fact that a large number of tiles are secured to each foundation sheet, there is a possibility that cracks may appear between 6 the tiles located adjacent to or overlying the gap or joint between two separate foundation sheets at a corner. The present invention substantially eliminates the possibility of such cracks occurring, by providing a rigid bridging member which extends across the joint between adjacent foundation sheets and is secured to the foundation sheets to counteract the tendency to relative movement therebetween.

The drawing illustrates a corner joint wherein the foundation sheets are disposed angularly with respect to each other with the end portion of one foundation sheet substantially abutting the marginal face portion of the adjacent sheet. The gap or joint between the sheets is filled with grouting material 18 and itis evident. that, if relative separating movement occurs between the two foundation sheets, a crack will appear along this joint.

' The bridging member is illustrated in Fig. 1

as comprising an elongated sheet metal strip 19 which is of angular cross section in accordance with the corner angle which. in this instance, is a right angle. The strip 159 is interposed between the foundation sheets 12 and the furring strips 11, and one leg thereof bridges or spans the gap between the foundation sheets. In this form, the nails 13 are driven through the foundation sheet and the metal strips and into the supporting structure on both sides of the joint. Consequently, if the supporting structure settles iuievenly or if the sheets contract or shrink, both foundation sheets will move as a unit and no crack will appear between the tiles supported thereby adjacent or overlying the joint.

An angularly cross-sectioned metal strip 20 occupies the corner between the foundation sheets and the supporting structure. The foundation sheets are secured to the supporting structure at points beyond the sides of the strip 29 by means of the nails 13. The strip is not secured to the supporting structure but is suitably secured to the foundation sheets on opposite sides of the joint therebetween. One preferred form of securing the strip to the sheets is by providing inturned sharpened prongs 21 along opposite side edges of the strip 20, which prongs penetrate the foundation sheets as the sheets are mounted in place. By this construction, as the building set tles, any tendency of the foundation sheets to move relatively is resisted by the strip 20. Moreover, should there be any force tending to pull the sheets apart at the corner, the free or floating relation of the strip 20 to the supporting structure allows the joined sheets to move as a unit away from the corner while the strip bends to compensate for such movement.

It will be seen from the foregoing that means has been provided for combiningadjacent foundation sheets into a unified structure resisting a separating force tending to move said sheets relatively.

We claim as our invention:

A wall construction comprising, in combination, a pair of sheets providing a foundation on which tiles may be mounted, means for supporting said sheets angularly with respect to each other to form a corner, a sheet metal bridging strip of angular cross section according to the normal angle of the corner for spanning the joint between said sheets, marginal projections on opposite sides of said strip to engage said sheets and restrain them against relative movement said strip being unattached to said supporting means and free to move away from the corner with the adjacent portions of the sheets, and means securing the sheets to said supporting means at points outside the strip.

OWEN E. GRIGSBY. GEORGE G. ELLITHORPE. 

